"Play your cards right, and you just might end up living here forever. Don't, and... well... I wouldn't bother unpacking your things, if you know what I mean."

On the surface, he's the one who's running the show, dedicated to his mission to make Mayfield the happiest little town in America. Under the surface, though, he's a highly paranoid, cowardly, and and obsessive psychopath, committed to exterminating "immoral behavior" and forcing the captives into compliance. For most of Mayfield's run, he worked at his office at City Hall and was rarely seen outside of it.

Tropes associated with Mayor John Doe:

Authority Equals Asskicking: Subverted. Like the others controlling Mayfield, he has phenomenal powers, but he's not the most dangerous of them all. He's also not the actual leader.

Faux Affably Evil: In Mayfield's earliest days, the Mayor put on a warm, folksy personality when dealing with the captives. As time went on, though, he dropped the facade, revealing his more Jerkass mindset.

Later during Thanksgiving 2011, he tried to bargain with John Zemekis not to unleash a recreation of nuclear war on Mayfield's captors by offering to torture all of the children, just so that people would admit that they enjoy living in Mayfield.

"Ta all ye new folks, I extend me personal welcome. The name's Grady, and I be the law hereabouts—hoho, listen ta me, big ol' important boyo! When all's said and done, I shouldn't hafta see ya outside o' the occasional smile an' wave. You don't cause trouble fer me an' I don't cause trouble for you. Ye understand."

The Mayor's right hand man, an aged, simple Irish-born beer loving police officer. He's the one responsible for finding the "ne'er-do-wells" of the town and subjecting them to droning—er, "obedience training." He demonstrated the power to immediately brainwash anyone nearby with just a thought.

Dragon with an Agenda: According to Zemekis near the end of the game, many of the crueler events inflicted upon the populace were not ordered by him, but on the initiatives of others—particularly Grady.

Kill 'em All: In private conversations with the Mayor during October 2010, it's revealed that he personally slaughtered everyone in Maipole for their attempt at "rescuing" Mayfield's captives back during the 2010 Fourth of July event.

Killed Off for Real: In the wake of the Summer 2011 event "Speak Up," in retaliation for Mercy Killing Jane Smith, using the powers he was given by the Mayor to exterminate Maipole.

Killer Cop: As time went on, he began to freely abuse his powers to force compliance or to kill disobedient captives slowly and painfully.

Police Brutality: Oh so very much. In fact, the Mayor once told Jack Smith that Grady liked abusing the captives as stress relief.

Punch Clock Villain: As much as he despised everyone who was brought to Mayfield, he didn't seem to think all torture was worth it.

Villain Teleportation: He could appear out of nowhere to deal with troublemakers, and also teleport people with him.

The Milkman

"I'm going to curdle your flesh right on your bones, you lactose intolerant!"

Silent and single-minded but cheerful and hard-working, he replaced the original drone milkman during the "Morning Deliveries" event of June 2009, after the Mayor and Officer Grady decided Mayfield's captives needed to be taught a lesson. He's not really under their control, though. He quickly became infamous for spiking delivered bottles of milk with poison, spiders, razor blades or glass—initially only a tenth of the bottles were delivered this way, but he eventually wound up doing it to everything he delivered.

Tropes associated with the Milkman:

Ax-Crazy: As is anyone who is droned by him, such as when he had a brief stint as the chief of police during the "Cream of the Cop" event in August 2011.

Fighting a Shadow: The Postman calls him by the same name as the real identity of Lucy Smith: John Zemekis. Before Evan Olney died, he mentioned that the Milkman is a "creation" of the Big Bad.

Kick the Dog: We'll just start with "he delivers poisoned milk to everyone's doorstep each morning" and go from there.

Kill 'em All: It's been implied that the Milkman had been active in the past before he was summoned, and that he did something ... awful ... to everyone who came before the current batch of captives. He's also the one responsible for killing all the drones, then cutting them up and sending them to households as "gifts" during the "Celebrate Freedom" event of July 2009.

"Good to see you, good to see you! How's the family? Great, great! Here's your package, and—oh, gosh, I nearly forgot, there's a tiiiiny little processing fee—if you'd be so good as to sign on this dotted line..."

Mayfield's very own postal worker, charming and witty—at first glance. First appeared during the "Payable on Delivery" event in August 2010, he provided captives with a way to get more of their original powers and possessions back without having to endure a number of monthly events to do so. Of course, dealing with him had its own terrible price.

Tropes associated with the Postman

Ambiguously Evil: He helps the captives as much as he hurts them, and for years his real motivations were unknown.

The quiet old woman who runs the Mayfield Public Library, who first appeared in November 2009 after the "Democracy" event. When she isn't shuffling books, she's mumbling to herself. It's hard to get a straight answer out of her. She prefers to be left alone—maybe that's why she works in the library, where she's quick to hush down anyone who speaks above whisper level.

Tropes associated with the Librarian:

Killed Off for Real: One of the last named NPCs to die, she remained in Mayfield with Mrs. Johnson as it collapsed.

Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Mayfield transformed her into a 56-year old woman, but she's actually much younger than this.

MacGuffin Girl: According to Richard Grey, she "possessed the key" to something concerning Mayfield. It turned out that she was an assistant programmer for Zemekis, helping to patch Mayfield's systems to a workable state when she first arrived. Later, after Zemekis went crazy, she joined Richard Grey in resisting him. She tried to figure out how to usurp control over the system from Zemekis back then, but failed.

The (new) father of the Smith household. He's a U.S. Army veteran, patriotic and all-American. When he's not helping people around the neighborhood, Jack likes to spend his time making friends down at Olney's, though he has a tendency to bring that sort of work home with him.

Tropes associated with Jack Smith:

The Alcoholic: Sometimes he'd be drunk when on "official business" with the town's captives. He spent most of the party that the Smith household held during September 2010 drinking booze.

Tropes associated with Jane Smith:

And I Must Scream: Unlike the Mayor, Grady, and Jack Smith, Samantha wasn't willingly choosing to play the role of Jane Smith. It's because she was droned into it. Imperfectly so, and every now and then the programming would crack or she would resist it.

Despair Event Horizon: After the "Proud to be a Mayfieldian" event for 2011's Fourth of July, Samantha's droning broke and she fell into this.

Face-Heel Turn: Unwillingly. Writings by Richard Grey Westport in May 2010 revealed that she was originally part of his resistance, and that she was the first known victim of Zemekis' ability to drone people, changing her identity and personality. Captives found evidence that she tried to resist it by writing down what she knew about her real self, only to fail.

One of the two kids in the Smith household, working as a paperboy. Billy loves to play baseball and ... well, not much else. He tends to get mixed up in harmless little pranks like broken windows and the occasional pet set on fire.

Tropes associated with Billy Smith:

Batter Up: Remember how we said he liked playing baseball? Yeah. He doesn't care who plays the "ball."

Face-Heel Turn: Implied by evidence found in Westport. A letter by Billy, addressed to Richard Grey, revealed he was part of Richard's resistance, but later turned traitor and allowed himself to be turned into the brat that he was.

If I Can't Have You: Letters from Westport, and the Librarian's testimony in February 2011, revealed that Jacques was kicked out of Richard Grey's resistance when he tried to hurt Annie. This trope was implied as the reason.

What Happened to the Mouse?: Billy's fate during Mayfield's final event isn't made explicit, but it's implied that Zemekis killed him as horribly as he did Jack Smith.

Lucy Smith

"Of course they wouldn't want to leave! Why would they? ... ... Everyone has to stay. They have to. Don't you understand? Because— ... ... it's perfect here. It doesn't matter what they want. They're going to be here forever."

A friendly little girl, Billy's female counterpart in every way. Lucy likes nothing more than to play house with her precious dollies, and is always up for making new friends. She's a very bright lass for her age, and always gets the best grades at school. She's also excellent at drawing with crayons, and her precocious, charming behavior is sure to get a smile out of anyone.

People Puppets: Like the rest of the Smith household, had the power to take control of the bodies of captives and do things against their will. During the party the Smith household held during September 2010, this took the form of stickfigurecrayon drawings.

Reality Warper: Tended to use this power in subtle ways, such as with the crayon drawings at the Smith party in September 2010. Sometimes, however, she was not so subtle—like in her treatment of Schuldig.

A citizen of Maipole, the Soviet Union equivalent of Mayfield. He and his family were Maipole's equivalent to the Smith household in Mayfield—upstanding and hard-working Soviet citizens who were models of comradeship and party loyalty. During the event "Better Dead" in October 2010, Sergei was one of the last surviving residents of that town after Grady killed everyone there. He escaped and tried to seek refuge in Mayfield ... but he didn't last long.

Tropes associated with Sergei Smirnov:

Brainwashed: During "Milk Drinks You," like other Maipole comrades. When he reappeared in "Better Dead" later that year, it was broken and fragmented.

Came Back Wrong: According to him, Maipole's own respawn system started falling apart long ago. It left them too weak to continue their bloody rivalry with Mayfield. It also made it hard for him to convey information to the captives due to imperfect restoration of his memories.

Cycle of Revenge: He revealed that Mayfield and Maipole actually had a long-standing and bloody feud with each other.

Tropes associated with Barbie:

"We were so desperate for escape, so desperate for a life without fear and pain, that we handed the power of God over to a madman and then acted surprised when he turned on us. I always knew we were cowards, but I never realized we were fools until it was far too late."

For most of Mayfield's run, an enigmatic figure. Starting with the summer 2012 event "Step Right Up" and later, "Don't You Forget About Me," more about him was revealed.

Tropes associated with Richard Grey:

Big Good: For what little assistance he could provide, he was genuinely trying to save the people of Mayfield from Zemekis.

Fling a Light into the Future: After Evan betrayed his resistance, Richard decided to face death with dignity and make a doomed last stand against Zemekis. Before he did so, he left a final message for anyone who would find it, begging them to find and save Annie Blake—such as the captives who wound up in Westport in May 2010.

La Résistance: He was running his own war against John Zemekis for years, separate from that of the captives. The evidence found in Westport during May 2010 revealed that he, Evan Olney, Annie Blake, Samantha Achewood and others tried to escape Zemekis' grip by creating an identical town to live in. Even after his death, he tried multiple times to covertly aid Mayfield's new captors, but there was little he could do directly to stop the torture.

Killed Off for Real: Zemekis deleted whatever was left of him from Mayfield's system at the conclusion of "Don't You Forget About Me."

Tropes associated with Mrs. Johnson:

Early-Bird Cameo: First showed up in the mod account's userpics in September 2009.

Even Evil Has Standards: Even Jack Smith and the Mayor think she went too far, and Jack was eager to try and put an end to her cruel experiments during the events of early 2012.

Killed Off for Real: One of the last named NPCs to die, trapped in Mayfield as it finally collapsed on itself.

Medical Horror: During the events of early 2012, her plan for fixing the broken resurrection machine involved a lot of pointless mutilation and medical experiments on captives, often while they were fully awake, conscious, and without any anesthetic.

People Puppets: During the game's final event, Mrs. Johnson usurped control over Mayfield and used her new powers to directly take control of captives' bodies, using them to hunt down and kill people while fully conscious and incapable of stopping themselves.

Johnathan Zemekis

"There was a time when ... I genuinely wished to save them ... and they wished to be sAvEd ... There was a day when I was a fully a man, and there was a time when I was a fully a machine. Between them ... many confusing days."

The real identity of Lucy Smith and The Milkman. For most of Mayfield's run, the true John Zemekis was "asleep," immersed in Mayfield's control systems, though he was still aware and able to act through his avatars.

Tropes associated with John Zemekis:

A God Am I: Being in direct control of Mayfield's systems made him a quite a megalomaniac, to put it mildly.

Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: According to him, being integrated directly into Mayfield's systems overwhelms a person with so much data and information that they stop thinking as a rational human would—and more in "absolutes and abstracts," as he put it.

Killed Off for Real: After Mrs. Johnson overthrew him with the help of The Postman and The Librarian, he was left to die in the Church, surrounded by glitch holes that would have eventually consumed him if a certain space marine hadn't helped his death along.

Mr. Exposition: The one time characters could speak with him directly, in his true form, was after he had been defeated in the final event of the game. He freely and honestly answered questions they had about Mayfield and why he did what he did ...

Start of Darkness: Long before the game began, his argument with (and murder of) Richard Grey sparked the idea to start kidnapping (or rather, copying) people from other universes in search of people who would accept what Mayfield's original residents wouldn't.

The Unfettered: There was very little he wasn't willing to do to try and achieve his goal—and by the final events, did even those few things taboo to him.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wanted people to agree with him that Mayfield was a perfect place to live, and would never want to leave no matter what happened to them.

Your Family

Ideally, everyone who arrives in Mayfield is paired up with three or more other captives to create a household of a husband, wife, and two children. When the town is unable to pull in enough people to fill one or more of those slots, they are instead filled out by drones. Especially common for newly added streets as the city expands.

Tropes associated with family drones:

Absurdly Youthful Mother and/or Father: Since drones think themselves biological relatives of the rest of the family, permanently droned captives remain in the house in which they were droned until a new captive is brought in to replace them, and most captives are considered adults when they turn 18 (and not a year before!) ... this created situations where teenagers had "parents" that were only a few years older than them.

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